Bryan and I needed a little rejuvenation from work and school, so we headed to Joshua Tree National Park this weekend to do a little backpacking. We hadn't gone to the desert to backpack before, so this was a new experience.
We loaded our packs Friday night, and woke up at the crack of dawn Saturday for the 3-hour drive out to Joshua Tree so we could hit the trail by 9:00. The weather was perfect: not a cloud in the sky, 70-degree daytime temperature, no desert winds… After registering at the "Backcountry Board,"
we decided to take the scenic "Boy Scout Trail" for 5 miles, then take a side loop trail called "The Maze" for another 4, make camp, and backpack out the 9 miles. Since it was just a weekend backpacking trip, we didn't have much weight in food or clothes, but because it's dry, we had to pack in all our water... that was when I remembered why we usually don't camp in the desert… lugging 6 liters of water each wasn't the most comfortable thing to do. The trail started off in the bajada, below the mountains of the park.
The first couple miles wandered through stands of Creosote bush, with the occasional Cholla cactus threatening to stick us. The awesome formations of "Wonderland of Rocks," granitic formations that characterize the northern section of the park, loomed ahead of us. As we hiked up to the mountains, the trail began to follow a canyon wash, making our ascent more gradual, but the wash was like hiking in beach sand and felt like double the work to backpack through it! With all the weight on our backs, we'd sink a little bit each step.
An unexpected beauty of the wash is that it made the tips of our boots sparkle with flecks of mica and biotite. With the sun rising overhead, the rays of light caught the minerals in the rocks and wash, and made everything shine. As we began our climb up the rocks out of the canyon, Bryan spotted two Big Horn Sheep- an endangered species with a small population of around 250 in the 800,000 acres of the park. Quite a treat to see the agile animals leaping from boulder to boulder! Once we reached the top of the mountain, the going was a bit easier, as the terrain was mostly just hills of rocks surrounded by a forest of Joshua Trees and Junipers.
After about a mile, we headed toward "The Maze" loop. On our way we passed a hill with tons of quartz crystals and dubbed an unusual piece of granite "butt rock". Bryan decided to pose…
After we entered the maze, it was starting to get a bit cooler, so we began to look for a spot to make camp and settled in a semi-flat area surrounded by Yuccas, Nolinas, and, of course, rocks! We set up our trusty tent, and immediately whipped out the wine we'd brought in a Nalgene bottle.
I poured the Cabernet into our cool little backpacking wine glasses that have a stem that unscrews, found a couple of comfortable rocks to form a sort-of recliner, and settled down with my glass of wine and book to watch the sun set behind the rock-strewn mountains.
After cooking dinner, it got cold very quickly, so I snuggled into my 0 degree bag in the tent and fell asleep before 7:00! Unfortunately, it was such a cold night (20-30 degrees) that I woke up pretty frequently, but I took those opportunities to gaze at the stars above me.
In the morning, we packed up and hit the trail once again, but with less weight to carry as we'd drunk more than half our water and the Nalgene of wine.
The hike back through the mountains was peaceful, and we didn't see other humans for more than 24 hours.
We got back to the trailhead earlier than we anticipated, and fulfilled our cravings for burgers on the way home. My weekend was only complete once I got home and enjoyed a hot shower!
We loaded our packs Friday night, and woke up at the crack of dawn Saturday for the 3-hour drive out to Joshua Tree so we could hit the trail by 9:00. The weather was perfect: not a cloud in the sky, 70-degree daytime temperature, no desert winds… After registering at the "Backcountry Board,"
we decided to take the scenic "Boy Scout Trail" for 5 miles, then take a side loop trail called "The Maze" for another 4, make camp, and backpack out the 9 miles. Since it was just a weekend backpacking trip, we didn't have much weight in food or clothes, but because it's dry, we had to pack in all our water... that was when I remembered why we usually don't camp in the desert… lugging 6 liters of water each wasn't the most comfortable thing to do. The trail started off in the bajada, below the mountains of the park.
The first couple miles wandered through stands of Creosote bush, with the occasional Cholla cactus threatening to stick us. The awesome formations of "Wonderland of Rocks," granitic formations that characterize the northern section of the park, loomed ahead of us. As we hiked up to the mountains, the trail began to follow a canyon wash, making our ascent more gradual, but the wash was like hiking in beach sand and felt like double the work to backpack through it! With all the weight on our backs, we'd sink a little bit each step.
An unexpected beauty of the wash is that it made the tips of our boots sparkle with flecks of mica and biotite. With the sun rising overhead, the rays of light caught the minerals in the rocks and wash, and made everything shine. As we began our climb up the rocks out of the canyon, Bryan spotted two Big Horn Sheep- an endangered species with a small population of around 250 in the 800,000 acres of the park. Quite a treat to see the agile animals leaping from boulder to boulder! Once we reached the top of the mountain, the going was a bit easier, as the terrain was mostly just hills of rocks surrounded by a forest of Joshua Trees and Junipers.
After about a mile, we headed toward "The Maze" loop. On our way we passed a hill with tons of quartz crystals and dubbed an unusual piece of granite "butt rock". Bryan decided to pose…
After we entered the maze, it was starting to get a bit cooler, so we began to look for a spot to make camp and settled in a semi-flat area surrounded by Yuccas, Nolinas, and, of course, rocks! We set up our trusty tent, and immediately whipped out the wine we'd brought in a Nalgene bottle.
I poured the Cabernet into our cool little backpacking wine glasses that have a stem that unscrews, found a couple of comfortable rocks to form a sort-of recliner, and settled down with my glass of wine and book to watch the sun set behind the rock-strewn mountains.
After cooking dinner, it got cold very quickly, so I snuggled into my 0 degree bag in the tent and fell asleep before 7:00! Unfortunately, it was such a cold night (20-30 degrees) that I woke up pretty frequently, but I took those opportunities to gaze at the stars above me.
In the morning, we packed up and hit the trail once again, but with less weight to carry as we'd drunk more than half our water and the Nalgene of wine.
The hike back through the mountains was peaceful, and we didn't see other humans for more than 24 hours.
We got back to the trailhead earlier than we anticipated, and fulfilled our cravings for burgers on the way home. My weekend was only complete once I got home and enjoyed a hot shower!
